Rule 51
by CanadianChick07
Summary: Special Agent Pride has made some mistakes about his daughter, who happens to be a Marine, so he calls Gibbs for some much needed advice.


**I really am not sure why/how this popped into my head but it did. I blame any errors on the fact its midnight.**

**Oh and I'm not sure if I am the only one but I loved the backdoor pilot. Here's to hoping it gets picked up!**

* * *

Scarlett Pride breathed heavily and looked at the man in the bed beside her. She wore a smile, nothing else and the light sheets covered them both.

"Why you smilin' at me like that for?" Austin Davis laughed at her, playing with her hair.

She smiled at him. "I'm glad I came."

"Me too, darlin', me too," Austin replied.

Scarlett laid on her back, staring at the ceiling and sighed. "You know my daddy is going to kill us both if he finds out that I'm here."

Austin draped his arm over her stomach. "He won't."

"Remember the last time you said that?"

He chuckled at the memory. Running from the cops and her daddy. It didn't turn out well. "Well… You have a point there, darlin'. But you're a big girl now. Your daddy doesn't have a say in what you do anymore."

"Tell that to him," Scarlett fired back. Being Special Agent Dwayne Pride's only daughter had its perks and its downfalls, this being one of the downfalls.

Austin rolled his eyes. "I distinctly remember his last words to me were 'if I ever catch you with my daughter again, they won't find your body.'"

Scarlett just looked at her old boyfriend beside him and laughed. Her southern accent was coming in thicker and thicker every minute she was back here. New Orleans was a hell of a lot better than the hell hole they called Afghanistan.

* * *

"Is that who I think it is? My favorite Marine!" Special Agent Christopher Lasalle gave her the biggest hug Scarlett had ever received, the minute her and her mother had stopped by the New Orleans NCIS 'office' to visit.

He finally let her go and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "It's good to see you too, Chris."

They sat on the edge of the table. "How long you in town for?"

"Two or three days. I have a little bit of post-deployment leave but I need to find an apartment to move into off base in California since I am now stationed at Camp Pendleton."

Lasalle smiled at her. "A little sick of shared accommodations?"

"Yes! No more female roommates either," Scarlett replied.

Special Agent Brody walked into the room and Lasalle made introductions. "Special Agent Meredith Brody, meet the one and only Lieutenant Scarlett Pride. Any stories that you may here about her are probably true."

Brody smiled and shook Scarlett's hand. "Wild child streak?"

Linda Pride just laughed. "Understatement of the century."

King made his appearance and kissed his daughter's head. "This child is the reason my hair went gray."

"Thanks Daddy," she turned to Brody. "I wasn't that bad of a child."

Her father almost snorted. "Whatever you say, child, whatever you say."

Brody smiled that friendly smile at her again. "I was trying to figure out where I saw you and I finally figured it out. You were at Domenica last night with a man, short brown hair, a little taller than you." Lasalle gave her a look to shut up but the damage was done.

All the sudden Linda and King both turned to Scarlett. "You were with Austin last night?!" Scarlett's mother exclaimed.

Scarlett bit her lip and looked at Lasalle for help but he just shrugged. She was going to have to fight her own fight on this one. Lasalle got why King and Linda hated Scarlett's ex-boyfriend as there had been a couple panicked calls he had gotten from Scarlett in her teenager years. But the last time Lasalle saw Austin Davis; the man had changed from boy from running from the cops and getting arrested with Scarlett. "I was. Is that a problem?"

"Scarlett Jo Blake!" King said her full name, for the emphasis that she was about to get a lecture. "I told that boy that if he ever saw you again, I would hide his body and I think I may just go and do that."

She glared at her father. "He enlisted the day after we got arrested, into the Army. He got the honorable discharge last month. Or is that the problem? He's Army?"

"That's not the problem. The problem is that you can't see him! He is bad news Scarlett."

She looked at her mother for help and Linda wore an expression of disappointment and desperation. Linda had lived through the years of screaming, yelling, doors slamming and hoped to hell that was over and done with. Apparently not. Scarlett threw up her hands, almost in defeat but she was going to have the last say. "No. I can see whoever I want to see. Remember the last boyfriend? You approved of him and look how that turned out. I'm not your little girl anymore and nor am I 12! Fucking hell, Dad, I'm a lieutenant in the fucking Marine Corps and just returned from Afghanistan. If that doesn't make me a woman who can make her own damn decisions, I don't know what does!" She turned on her heel and walked out the door.

Linda was about to go after her but Brody held up her hand. "I got this, ma'am."

Brody went to find Scarlett, who was just standing outside, looking into the streets. "Sorry about telling them about them last night."

Scarlett smiled at the apology. "Don't apologize. It was bound to come out sooner or later."

"What's with this Austin character from last night?"

She looked at the ground and chuckled. "Ex-boyfriend. Well, I don't know about ex anymore. They have their reasons for hating his guts and I respect that but he's changed. The night we got arrested for stealing a car was a wake up call for him. Not for me, but for him it was."

"He cleaned up his act?"

Scarlett nodded. "Enlisted in the Army, shipped out for boot camp three weeks after that. The Army straightened him out pretty good and he left as a Sergeant. He went in with his brother for an auto repair shop and he's back there now that he got out and is working on his bachelor's degree in accounting."

Brody whistled. "Not bad. What about you? How did you clean up your act?"

Scarlett laughed. "After Austin enlisted I had nothing holding me back and ran away to the furthest possible spot to Pullman, Washington to attend Washington State on a soccer scholarship. Partied like crazy my first year, spent most of it drunk, somehow managed not to flunk out or get kicked off the soccer team. Didn't talk to my parents for a good eight months. It was the last weekend before exams and somehow I ended up on the coast in Bremerton. We were at somebody's apartment, partying with a bunch of enlisted sailors who were on liberty."

"I can sense the story is getting good," Brody commented.

"Yeah. So I'm in the back bedroom having sex with this one guy. Apparently he wasn't supposed to be enjoying liberty and NCIS got word of it. So Agent Grossman was one of my dad's former probies. He comes into the bedroom, tosses me my clothes and say's we're going to talk."

"Was it awkward as hell?" Brody asked, chuckling a little bit at the mental picture.

Scarlett nodded. "Beyond. So he put me in the brig while they got it sorted out with the guy I had been in bed with. Now, Grossman had been a former Drill Instructor in the Corps so he brought me over to his place, threw me in the shower to sober up and got his best DI face and voice on and proceeded to yell at me for the next three hours."

Brody laughed. "Woke you up, huh?"

"Something clicked, I don't know. So it was around 4 in the morning and I stopped him in the middle of one of his rants about my behavior and that I was the last person he would have ever picked to be partying with enlisted sailors and throwing clothes at. I told him to drive me to the nearest Marine Corps recruiting station the next morning. He let me sleep after that, woke me up at 07:00 and asked me if I was sure about my decision. I said I was so he took me out for breakfast and I went in for ROTC. I didn't tell my mom that I had enlisted until I went on my freshman cruise in the summer. She cried and my dad shook his head."

"He was a former Marine, wasn't he?"

"He only did five years and left as a Captain. Gulf War vet. Apparently he didn't think I could hack it as a Marine. Somehow I finished my three years at Washington State, got a whole bunch of soccer awards and mentions, my grades never really improved but I think my mom's proudest day is when I got my degree."

Brody smiled at the younger girl. "I was pretty much exactly like you. Dad was a professor, mom a journalist but they didn't really approve of my boyfriends in school. Ran away to school as well, only I went to Arizona and finished two years and started drinking again. My uncle brought me to his place to sober up and after that I enlisted in the Navy. Did a couple years in there, got my degree and came over to NCIS."

"Any advice?"

"Don't cut off your parents completely. I did and I sometimes regret it. You're an only kid and the look on your mom's face when your dad started yelling at you… she loves you."

Scarlett bit her lip. "So how do I tell them that Austin is planning to move out to California with me?"

"Don't, that's my advice. Just do it. Until your father has seen that Austin has changed, nothing is going to stop him disapproving of you. You're his little girl, it doesn't matter if you are a US Marine and command Marines under you."

"Thanks. I was always daddy's little girl growing up and I made my fair share of mistakes but sometimes I just wish he'd look at me like the woman and Marine I am, instead of a little girl. I don't think he's really realized that I've done an extended stay in a hell hole and this is not what I needed on my leave."

"When did you and Austin start talking again?"

Scarlett shrugged. "Not until last year."

Linda came out of the building and was a little relieved to see Scarlett and Brody still talking. "You ready to go, Scar?"

She nodded. "Thanks for the advice, Brody," she smiled.

Brody smiled back and paused at the door. "Any time Marine."

* * *

_Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs rounded a corner in a building on base in Afghanistan and was very surprised to find a blonde female Marine in a flak jacket, gun in her holster, M4 slung over her should and leaning over a desk, filling out paperwork. He needed to make a video conference to Vance in MTAC and female communication Marine's were common, not one in full flak jacket and the whole shebang. She turned around to see who the newcomer was and Gibbs laughed. The last time he has seen her she had pink hair and probably was one of the last people he thought he'd see in Afghanistan, much less in uniform. "Scarlett Jo Blake."_

_She smiled and hugged the former Gunny. "How are you?"_

_"Just got here. How about you, Lieutenant?"_

_Scarlett shrugged. "About as good as you can do in the suck, I guess."_

_"I didn't know you were an MP," Gibbs commented, seeing the MP insignia._

_"That I am. What are you doing in this hell hole? Don't tell me you volunteered for a flight in a C-130!"_

_Gibbs smiled. "Nah. NCIS business."_

_One of the other Marines had managed to get a video conference going. "Director Vance is online, Agent Gibbs."  
_

_He held out his hand to Scarlet and she shook it. "Good seeing you, Lieutenant. It's been awhile."_

_She smiled and nodded. "You too."_

_"Watch your six," he added as he went into a different area to make the call. She walked away, smiling._

* * *

King looked at his cell phone for a good couple minutes before finally picking up the cell phone and dialling an old number he remembered. "Yeah, Gibbs," was the introduction he got.

"It's King," he said.

"You calling about a body?" Gibbs presumed.

He laughed. "For once, no."

"Well I don't ever remember you calling just to chat so what's on your mind?"

Ever the direct approach from Gibbs. It was something King had missed. "I think I made a pretty big mistake with my daughter," he admitted.

"I thought she was in Afghanistan?"

"Just got back and on leave. I might have found out she was with an old boyfriend and shit hit the fan."

Gibbs laughed. "Some things don't change, apparently."

"Yeah, well, about the old boyfriend has. Cleaned up his act, enlisted in the Army, owns an auto-repair shop and is enrolled in school to get a degree in accounting," King said.

"Well in my experienced the United States Armed Forces gets a lot of kids to clean up their acts," Gibbs added.

King sighed. "Yeah, well, this is the kid is the one responsible for Scarlett's wild child stage and getting arrested for stealing a car."

"People change, King," Gibbs said. He knew that all too well.

"What do I do now, Gibbs? She's pretty pissed at me. She left for California tonight and Linda said the old boyfriend was on the flight with her."

Gibbs thought for a minute and then answered. "Well, I'd be if I were 22, a Marine and just got back from Afghanistan where I commanded men and my father was trying to tell me who I couldn't date, I'd be pretty pissed off. So go to California, hug your daughter, have an open mind and say you're sorry."

"It's really that easy?"

"Rule 51- Sometimes you're wrong. Apologizing doesn't have to be hard, Pride. At all. Scar is a good kid and you raised her right. Start having faith in her. The Marine Corps does."

King chuckled. "I think I got the picture. Thanks Gibbs."

"No problem, brother. Call more often or else I am going to have to come down there."

"Door is always open."


End file.
